Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - Increase Use of CDCR Tele ‑Mental Health to Maximum Court ‑Approved Levels. We recommend directing CDCR to increase the use of tele ‑mental health up to the maximum levels approved by the court. This could attract qualified professionals who might not otherwise want to work in a prison setting, as well as allow the state to recruit from areas where there are more providers available.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

The 2026-27 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 23, 2026 - This  suggests that the state has room to further expand tele ‑mental health beyond the level  proposed. Unclear Whether CDCR Strategically Deploying Tele ‑Mental Health. The Governor ’s proposal provides few details that make it difficult to assess whether CDCR is proposing to deploy the requested resources strategically.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

The 2026-27 Budget: Estimated State Savings From Proposition 47

Feb 23, 2026 - The 2026-27 Budget: Estimated State Savings From Proposition 47 Estimated State Savings From Proposition  47 Background Proposition  47 (2014) Reduced Punishment for Certain Lower-Level Drug and Property Crimes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5108

The 2026-27 Budget: Judicial Branch

Feb 11, 2026 - This means that additional issues could be identified that drive further cost increases. The sizeable increase in funding raises questions on whether sufficient oversight was in place to appropriately assess the scope of work and costs before the project began.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5113

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 11, 2026 - This would then allow the Legislature to determine what fee levels it is comfortable with —which could be higher or lower than those recommended by DOJ. If the fee levels are lower than current or projected costs, the Legislature would be better equipped to assess (1)  how much of this workload needs to be supported from the General Fund at the cost of other
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5118

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care [Publication Details]

Feb 23, 2026 - For over three decades, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has faced litigation for providing unconstitutional levels of prison mental health care, in part due to chronic vacancies among mental health staff.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5134

Retail Theft in California: Looking Back at a Decade of Change

Jun 12, 2025 - In addition, as the Legislature conducts oversight of implementation, it  may uncover information —such as which tools are driving the most use of incarceration —that can yield avenues for further inquiry around cost.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

Assessing Community College Programs at State Prisons

Jul 1, 2024 - Specifically, we recommend the Chancellor ’s Office be required to report: the number of incarcerated FTE students served, broken out by instructional modality; course success rates, also broken out by instructional modality; term ‑to ‑term persistence rates; share of first ‑year cohorts that pass college ‑level math and English; and program completion rates (such as earning an associate degree or certificate).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4913

The 2024-25 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 22, 2024 - Further reductions in prison capacity would mean that, if use of the department ’s remaining physical space and staffing levels remain unchanged, a smaller portion of the population would be able to have a full ‑time or two half ‑time assignments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4852

The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 19, 2025 - As a result, in future years, this proposed ongoing spending will likely crowd out other areas of spending and require even further budget solutions, such as reduced spending for other existing state programs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4972